Dan Lanning sleeps with a notepad next to his bed. Lately, he’s been waking up a lot more often to jot down thoughts so he won’t forget them.

The 36-year-old Lanning moves another step closer to his first season as a college head coach when Oregon kicks off fall camp practices on Friday. His roster will feature plenty of talent, maybe the most in the Pac-12. But there’s also a host of new faces that need to get acclimated and questions that need to be answered, the most high-profile of which is probably Lanning himself.

Having helped lead Georgia’s defense to a national championship last season as the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator, Lanning is no stranger to rising to meet lofty expectations. But he acknowledged during the Ducks' team media day Wednesday that being the head man represents a whole new challenge.

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“As a head coach, there’s a lot more pieces that I’m really focused on,” he said. “I think you have to be elite at the job that you’re in, and my job right now involves seeing all facets, and I probably can’t have my hand as far in the defense as I want to or as I have in the past, because that allows me to make sure I’m in offensive meetings and seeing what we’re doing on that side of the ball, or special teams. To be honest, it’s really fun.”

The early response to Lanning’s tenure has been overwhelmingly positive. Players gushed about the team chemistry, buoyed by summer activities like “get real” meetings and a team paintball outing. And offensive players said Lanning, a career defensive coach at the college level, has indeed had a presence on their side of the ball.